Promoting brain-promoting apps stop mental decline in older people while controls slip

For residents of assisted living facilities facing the shadow of cognitive decline, a new smartphone app brings hope. A recent study found that older people using custom mobile programs showed measurable improvement in brain function, while those who did not use the technology actually saw a slight decline over the same period.

A clinical trial conducted by researchers at Texas A&M and Utah University tested the Silvia program, a free cognitive healthcare application, that was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in an assisted living facility in Indiana. Their findings were published in Public Health and Practice in December 2024.

“We evaluated the overall efficacy of the Silvia program on the cognitive function of these residents while also examining age or gender,” said the researchers and researchers at the A&M University School of Public Health in Texas. “This is important because many assisted living facilities residents face challenges such as social isolation and limited access to health care, which exacerbates cognitive decline. Tools such as the Silvia program can provide valuable support.”

The researchers randomly assigned 20 routines of intervention groups or control groups using SILVIA applications, and assigned 20 participants with mild cognitive impairment to the intervention group. The mean age of participants was 78 years old, and the gender distributions were similar between the two groups, although the educational levels vary widely.

Personalized digital intervention

Unlike the traditional cookie-cutter cognitive health approach, Silvia plans to provide personalized activities based on personal abilities and progress. The comprehensive program includes daily goal setting, cognitive training through 15 tailored programs, monitoring of nutrition and activity patterns, and a home-based exercise program.

During the 12-week study period, participants participated in cognitive training sessions three times a week, each time for 15-30 minutes and twice a week for 30 minutes of physical exercise. Perhaps the most innovative is the AI-driven component of the application.

“Participants in the Silvia program were also involved in personalized, AI-generated conversations about their activities, including difficulties in the task, time spent, and cognitive motor scores,” Kim explained.

The AI ​​system continuously evaluates user performance to adjust the difficulty level accordingly for an optimized experience – difficult to achieve in traditional group settings.

Measurable brain benefits

To measure cognitive changes, the researchers used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), a standardized test that evaluates all aspects of brain function, including memory, attention, language, and visual-spatial abilities.

Although the two groups started with similar baseline scores, follow-up assessment revealed a significant difference: the intervention group showed statistically significant improvement (P = 0.04), while the decline in the control group did not decrease significantly (P = 0.49).

The researchers further decomposed the results and observed that application users improved in several key areas: visual space/execution function (ability to successfully complete tasks), language skills, delayed recall (remembering information after time passes) and direction (recognizing time, place, and people). Interestingly, the attention scores dropped slightly while naming and abstraction abilities remained stable.

Meanwhile, the control group showed different patterns – increased visual-spatial/execution function, increased naming and abstraction, but decreased recall performance of language and delays, without attention and direction changes.

Exceeded the number

The importance of these findings extends beyond statistical improvements. For the elderly in assisted living environments, maintaining cognitive function directly affects quality of life, independence and self-awareness.

Digital health technologies such as the Silvia program may address several key challenges at the same time: They can be accessed in the living spaces of residents, can be customized to individual needs and abilities, and provide opportunities for participation that may otherwise be restricted in an institutional environment.

This study is based on growing evidence that multiple domain interventions (combining multiple approaches such as cognitive practice, physical exercise, and nutritional guidance) are more effective than single pair of brain-healthy unit interventions.

Research limitations

Despite encouraging results, the researchers acknowledge that their pilot study has some limitations. Only 20 participants lasted for 12 weeks, and these findings were more inspiring than certainty. The sample also lacks diversity, consisting primarily of white women, which limits the generality to the wider assisted living population.

Furthermore, researchers did not take into account existing variables such as health status, functional competence, and technical acceptance that could affect cognitive health and willingness to use digital tools.

expect

“Our research shows that customized mobile multi-domain programs can benefit older people from mild cognitive decline,” King said. “As these programs are further refined and expanded, greater results may be achieved.”

Accessibility interventions for cognitive health are becoming increasingly important as the population ages and assisted living communities continue to grow. The study suggests that smartphone-based programs such as Silvia may offer scalable, cost-effective approaches to address cognitive health challenges in institutional settings.

Researchers recommend larger long-term research across multiple locations to more comprehensively evaluate the benefits of the technology and optimize its implementation for different populations.

For millions of older people and their families facing the challenges of cognitive aging, the digital realm may offer new avenues for new ways to maintain mental acuity and quality of life, an application notification.